Pelosi: Dems intend to win back the House

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is signaling she doesn't plan to stay in that diminished job very long.

The top House Democrat and 70-year-old former Speaker suggested Thursday night she has no goal short of winning the chamber back for her party.

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"We are in a little bit of a sparse mode right now. I didn't realize we would be," Pelosi told CNN's John King, who noted her "sparsely decorated" new office. "I've had other work to do than to [laughter] … because I don't plan to stay here that long."

Pelosi moved out of the Speaker's office and into minority leader headquarters after Republican John Boehner (Ohio) was sworn in earlier this week as Speaker.

Democrats need to win 25 seats to take back the House in 2012, and senior members of the party have emphasized this week that their goal is nothing less than that.

"I have been the minority leader before, and I put forth a plan for us to win the House for the American people and we succeeded," Pelosi said. "I know how to do that, and we intend to do that again."

Pelosi has proven experience in charting Democrats back to the majority. She served as minority leader last decade before leading her party to control of the House in the 2006 elections.